Lake Tanganyika Setup

[jtd1216]

First, let me say that I am so unbelievably happy to be back on this forum after 13 years!! Yup you read that right! This forum helped me along on all my past tanks. I’ve since rekindled my passion (and multiple tank syndrome lol) and starting a tank for me, I mean my kids ))

In the process of getting my water parameters stable for my 29g tank (photo attached!) for some Neolamp Brichardi cichlids. I have a hang on back filter with a mesh bag of aragonite. All my tests are pretty good, with the exception of GH (in the 50-100ppm range) and KH (in the 140-200ppm range). I used PH buffer to get me to 8.0 and that’s been holding great. Should I be adding any of these pre-made mixes by Seachem (Lake Tanganyika Buffer, Cichlid Salt, and Cichlid trace)?? I’ve never used anything like this in the past, but can’t seem to get my hardness up over the last week or so.

Any suggestions? I want to make sure my tank is optimal before they arrive!

[Sicklid]

Sounds like you're there, dude! I honestly wouldn't worry too much about that. I always say consistency is better than "optimal" parameters, unless these are wild caught fish, or F1 we're talking about and you're trying to match their native conditions. If these are farm raised/pet shop fish, just give them good clean, highly maintained tank conditions, and you'll be fine ��

Nice aquascape by the way!

[Arget]

I have a 60g Tanganyika setup. I don't use anything to buffer the ph, and they're very happy. I've got Julies on one end, Multies on the other, and a sandy buffer zone in between. Consistancy is great, but a large abrupt change will shock them and kill them. I'm pretty lucky, when I was picking out what fish I wanted I read up a lot. It's easier to get fish to match your water conditions than it is to match your water conditions to the fish.